$ 


•  9    f 


PS2675 
R15s 


dup 


iurviva 


Southern  Branch 
of  the 

University  of  California 

Los  Angeles 


Ll 


Rlos 


This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below 


MAY  16  1951 

APR  2  5 


Form  L-9-5m-7,'23 


SURVIVALS 


BY 
LEWIS  V.  F.  RANDOLPH 


EMBELLISHED  BY 


BRYSON  BURROUGHS 


G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 
NEW  YORK  &  LONDON 
Che  "Knickerbocker  press 

MCM 


COPYRIGHT,  1900 

BY 
LEWIS  V.  F.  RANDOLPH 


fcnichtrbocfter  f>r«ee,  t»cw  jpork 


DEDICATED 

TO  THE  COMPANION  WHOSE  BEAUTIFUL  LIFE  HAS 
INSPIRED  THE  AUTHOR'S  BEST  THOUGHTS 


APOLOGY 

ONCE  the  discovery  by  a  certain  revered  Bank- 
President  of  a  few  harmless  verses  lost  the 
writer  a  promotion,  and  well-nigh  cost  him  his  clerkship 
and  living.  "  A  proper  young  man!  "  exclaimed  the 
President  to  the  Cashier;  "  but  poetry  and  banking  don't 
mix.  He  should  enter  upon  a  literary  career."  Alas! 
what  was  most  longed  for  could  be  least  afforded.  The 
heart  clave  to  the  "  career."  The  handicapped  youth 
clung  to  the  clerkship.  That  was  long  ago.  Now  that 
one  could  make  shift  to  afford  a  little  poetry,  it  is  too 
late  for  the  "  career." 

In  a  recent  biography  of  the  late  John  Mills,  banker, 
reformer,  and  poet  of  Lancashire,  we  are  informed  that 
our  own  Emerson  was  one  among  Mills's  many  friends; 
and  one  day,  hearing  Alexander  Ireland  read  some  of 
Mills's  poems,  yet  in  manuscript,  Emerson  asked,  "  Why 
does  he  not  publish  them  ?  "  When  Ireland  repeated 
this  to  Mills,  the  banker  remarked,  "  If  I  published  a 


vi  APOLOC  y 

book  of  poetry,  there  would  be  a  run  on  the  bank  in  no 
time." 

Perhaps  the  old  bankers  were  both  right,  though  it 
is  to  be  hoped  that  the  business  world  grows  kinder 
and  more  tolerant  as  it  grows  older.  The  daily  grind  of 
Wall  Street,  or  of  Threadneedle  Street,  does  not  foster 
fine  thought  ;  nor  does  it  aid  in  cultivating  the  imagina 
tion.  And  yet  -men  have  been  found  in  responsible 
positions  whose  services  to  mankind  were  not  lessened 
by  a  struggle  toward  poetical  ideals.  Such  ideals  the 
writer  has  at  least  cherished  —  without  growing  ashamed. 

To  him,  also,  life  has,  in  the  main,  worn  serious  and 
religious  aspects,  and  he  has  had  some  part  in  the  Church 
militant.  He  confesses  that  seriousness — even  to  in 
tensity — is  not  poetry.  Here,  doubtless,  he  needs — and 
he  craves  —  indulgence.  Still  he  trusts  that  fervor  and 
aspiration  are  not  yet,  even  at  the  turn  of  the  Century, 
accounted  as  alien  to  the  best  spirit  of  modem  verse. 

An  over-fond  mother — of  blessed  memory — valued  and 
kept  together  her  boy's  poems.  When  she  died,  a  prac 
tical  and  prudent  relative,  happening  into  possession  of 
the  pile  of  papers,  marvelled  at  their  inutility,  and  of 
them  promptly  made  a  holocaust.  Just  how  a  certain 
few  of  the  older  collection  were  saved,  and  some  later 
ones  added,  it  is  not  now  important  to  recount.  In  John 


APOLOGY  VII 

Bunyan's  poetic  allegory  there  is  a  quaint  figure  of  an 
old  man  with  a  muck-rake,  gathering  unconsidered  trifles. 
It  would  be  sad  to  spend  much  of  this  probationary  life 
wielding  the  muck-rake.  One  apology  might  in  this  case 
be  that  raking  these  forty  'compositions  out  of  the  rem 
nants  of  forty  years  has  furnished  a  brief  diversion  in  a 
life  too  much  devoted  to  the  cares  of  this  world  and  the 
deceitfulness  of  other  people's  riches.  For  the  publi 
cation  of  these  remnants,  or  survivals,  no  apology  is 
attempted. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

SURVIVALS i 

DECEMBER 4 

MAY 5 

APOSTROPHE 6 

TAHAWUS 8 

SABBATH  AT  BEACH  LAKE 12 

BOATING  UP  THE  OSWEGATCHIE 14 

THE  LILY  OF  THE  LAKE         .......  15 

THE  BROOK 17 

CHAZY 19 

THE  DELAWARE  WATER  GAP 21 

INVOCATION 25 

WE  WALK  BY  FAITH  ;  NOT  BY  SIGHT 26 

THE  PEACE  OF  GOD 29 

MASTER  !  WHERE  DWELLEST  THOU  ? 30 

1865 32 

TRENTON  FALLS 34 

LAUGHING  EYES 36 

HELLAS 41 

THE  GLORY  OF  ATHENS 42 

MINE 46 

ix 


x  CONTENTS 

FACE 

BORN  ON  THE  WEDDING  DAY 48 

A  WEDDING  ANNIVERSARY 49 

THE  MAGI 51 

LINES  FOR  A  HALL  OPENING 53 

WELCOME  TO  DELEGATES 57 

PHILOMATHIC  SONG 59 

CHRISTMAS  HYMN 61 

LIBRARY  SONG f,2 

FAITHFUL  SHEPHERD  HYMN 64 

THE  COLORADO  AND  ITS  CANON 65 

ON  LAKE  HURON 67 

Two  SUBLIMITIES 7o 

ADORNING  THE  DOCTRINE 73 

THANKSGIVING .        .74 

PEACE 75 

Now 78 

"  THE  MAN  WITH  THE  HOE  " 81 

EASTER 87 

EPITAPH 89 


DRAWINGS 


PAGE 

"  Pass — leaving  only  in  that  sacred  scene 
The  Christ,  the  Mother,  and  the  Magdalene."         facing  page     I 

' '  If  hungry  seas,  ever  demanding  more, 
Gnaw  the  receding  margins  of  the  shore."       ....       I 

"  Shivers  and  shrivels  now  the  winter  day."       ....       4 

"  Gladdest  of  all  the  months  comes  tripping  May  : — 
Her  breezes  laden  with  her  snow-white  bloom."     ...       5 

"  Betsie  Blossom  !     Tall  and  lithesome, 
Maiden  of  the  nut-brown  hair ! "     .         .         .         .         .         .       6 

"  Courage  !     Lo  the  trail  we  follow  toward  the  peak 

that  cleaves  the  sky  !  " 8 

"  The  .Sabbath  has  dawned,  but  the  winds  know  it  not."  .         .     12 

"  It  flows  through  the  graves  of  ancient  trees, 
That  moulder  in  darkness  and  damp." 17 

"  While  Cynthia's  cloudy  shallops  skim 

Her  calm,  cerulean  sea, 
Here,  in  our  light  canoe,  we  float 

On  beautiful  Chazy."  .......     19 


xii  DRA  WINGS 

PAGE 

"  Have  you  stood  upon  our  borders  where  the  waters  gently 

sweep 
Twixt  the  stern  and  stately  mountains  ?"      .        .        .        .21 

"  So  come  to  my  soul.  Holy  Spirit  of  Truth."  .         .         .25 

"  Oh,  never  leave  us  in  the  dark  alone  !  "  .         .         .         .26 

"  The  Peace  of  God." 28 

"Where  dwells  the  Christ?" 30 

"  What  hast  thou  hidden,  mournful  Night  ! 
What  have  ye  seen,  O  Stars ! "  .         .         .         .         .     32 

"  Thine  is  the  charm,  O  Kauy-a-hoo-ra  bright  !  "  .         -34 

"  Hellas,  happy  Hellas  !     Mighty  and  glorious  ! 
Lovingly  thine  azure  sky  embraced  thy  fruitful  sea."     .         .     40 

"  Like  the  Acropolis  height  looking  calmly  on 

jubilant  Athens."    ........     43 

" floods  of  light  and  sweetness."         .         .  .  .  .48 

"  They  found  a  flower  in  Bethlehem's  inn."       .  .  .  .51 

"  At  the  sacred,  sweet  Castalian  Spring."           .  .  .  -     53 

"The  Springtide." .  .  .57 

"  Across  the  Jordan,  and  from  far, 
Come  eager  Eastern  Sages."  ......     60 

"  From  tomes  of  mingled  lore 

Our  minds — from  many  a  store — 

This  night  are  taught." 62 

The  faithful  shepherd 64 


DRAWINGS  xili 

PAGE 

"  Artery  of  sentient  hills  serene  and  tall."         .         .         .         .65 

"  To  feel  His  breath  in  every  passing  breeze, 
And  in  the  smiling  sun  to  meet  His  eye  !  "  .         .         -67 

"  Sublimity  of  motion  for  our  land."          .....     70 

"  But  where  the  icy  crest, 
So  coldly  brilliant,  crowns  the  regal  hill, 
Behold  the  symbol  of  a  changeless  will — 

Sublimity  of  rest."        .......     72 

"  Let  us  have  Peace  ! "  .         .         .         .         .         .         -75 

"  Live  in  the  present  ;  for  't  is  all  thou  hast."   .         .         .         .78 

"  The  while,  through  straight,  brown  billows  of  the  soil 

They  drive  the  plow."    ........     80 

From  Turbulence  to  Rest.         .......     89 


-  x^r  m^^ 


SURVIVALS 

GOD'S  universe  is  one.     He  is  its  Soul. 
He  vitalizes,  guides,  informs  the  whole. 
Matter  exists  not  as  a  lifeless  thing  ; 
But,  full  of  sentience  and  obedience,  spring 
Suns,  worlds,  and  song-birds  to  make  glad  acclaim 
Of  unity  of  life  in  one  Great  Name. 
In  essence  all  is  Spirit.     Every  clod 
Attests  its  link  and  loyalty  to  God. 
Attraction,  gravitation,  are  but  words 
Hollow  of  meaning  when  the  thought  affords 
No  just  relation  to  the  Primal  Force — 
No  hint  of  union  to  the  Central  Source. 
God's  Universe  is  Spirit.     Things  that  seem 
So  real  are  but  shadows.     What  we  deem 
As  stalwart  entities  full  oft  are  mere 
Refractions  through  a  clouded  atmosphere. 
Material  things!     Sight,  feeling,  touch,  and  taste 


SURVIVALS 

Attest  them  momently ;  and  then  they  waste. 

Some  melt  like  snowflakes  in  the  vernal  sun  ; 

By  friction,  rust,  decay,  are  some  undone. 

These  are  but  children  of  the  earth  and  air 

Without  fixed  habitation  anywhere. 

Through  them,  as  through  electric  currents,  come 

Bright,  hopeful  messages  to  souls  that  roam: — 

'T  was  a  vibration;  't  was  a  passing  wave; 

The  short-lived  medium  hasted  to  its  grave: 

The  message  stayed,  perchance, — a  promise  given, 

A  word  of  love,  a  truth,  a  hope  of  Heaven. 

And,  if  things  earthly  and  material  fade — 

If  the  free  winds  the  lofty  hills  abrade — 

If  hungry  seas,  ever  demanding  more, 

Gnaw  the  receding  margins  of  the  shore — 

If  Earth,  herself,  like  a  great  moth,  must  fly 

About  her  luring  sun-lamp  in  the  sky, 

And  then,  perchance,  some  day  fall  in  and  burn — 

If  e'en  the  lamp  into  a  cinder  turn  — 

These  wasting  things,  that  haste  to  old  from  new, 

Are  surely  not  the  constant  and  the  true. 

And  what  are  quarrels  and  disputes  of  men 

About  God's  truth  ?     Fogs  are  they  from  the  fen; 

As  oppositions,  science-made;  so-called, 

But  falsely.     Many,  stumbling  and  enthralled 


SURVIVALS 

Amongst  these  vapors,  strain  their  sight  to  see 

The  way  to  Life  and  Light  and  Liberty. 

Ah!  what  is  Life  ?     Indulgence,  struggle,  care, 

Cunning  device,  persistence  —  foul  or  fair — 

In  what  is  called  success  ?     These  make  for  death: 

They  pass.     They  are  not.     Hardly  had  they  breath. 

Of  all  within  the  sky  of  Calvary, 

What,  in  that  dark  horizon,  do  we  see 

Living  supernal,  shining  there  as  true 

Amid  the  dreadful  death-damp  and  the  dew  ? 

Great  Love  to  Man  and  Loyalty  to  God  ! 

These  live — are  true — and  shed  their  light  abroad. 

All  else — the  soldiers  and  the  multitude, 

The  scoffing  priests  and  their  benighted  brood — 

Phantoms  less  real  than  the  blackened  sky — 

Out  of  that  Presence,  lo,  they  pass  and  die: — 

Pass — leaving  only  in  that  sacred  scene 

The  Christ,  the  Mother,  and  the  Magdalene. 

What  lasts,  what  lives  forever,  but  the  Truth  ? — 
Wastes  not  with  age  but  holds  for  aye  its  youth. 
The  soul  of  man  that  loves  it  shall  not  fall; 
Who  knows  it  not  has  never  lived  at  all. 
Men  move  as  phantoms  in  a  world  of  strife: 
"  The  gift  of  God  is  Everlasting  Life." 


DECEMBER 

AS  through  some  sun-forsaken  canyon's  stress 
Explorers  pass  to  find  a  bright  beyond — 
So  through  this  dark  defile,  December,  press 
Lives  following  larger  light  and  hopes  still  fond. 

Shivers  and  shrivels  now  the  winter  day, 
And  grave  and  grizzled  is  the  weary  year; 

But  eyes  of  faith  dwell  not  on  hues  of  gray, 
And  hearts  of  trust  are  unabashed  by  fear. 


MAY 

(MONTH  OF  FAMILY  ANNIVERSARIES) 

GLADDEST  of  all  the  months  comes  tripping  May :- 
Her  breezes  laden  with  her  snow-white  bloom; 
And  steeped  in  perfume,  from  the  dawn  of  Day 

Till  Evening  gently  glides  from  gloam  to  gloom. 
Month  full  of  happiest  hope  and  memory — 

Of  plans  and  retrospects — with  many  a  thought 
Of  truest  tenderness  for  those  whom  we 

Closest  to  our  own  loving  hearts  have  caught! 
O  gladsome  May!     O  witching,  winsome  May! 
How  rich  the  light  of  thine  expanding  day! 


APOSTROPHE 

BETSIE  BLOSSOM!     Tall  and  lithesome, 
Maiden  of  the  nut-brown  hair, 
Maiden  of  the  pure,  white  forehead — 

Eyes  so  tender — face  so  fair! 
Blossom  of  a  stem  immortal, 

Soul  thou  art,  undying,  sweet, 
That  shall  tread  through  countless  aeons 
On  the  paths  where  angels  meet. 
6 


APOSTROPHE 

Betsie  Blossom!     Glee  and  gladness 

Go  thy  gliding  steps  along. 
From  thy  lips  so  red,  bewitching, 

Falls  the  ripple  of  a  song — 
Fall  the  fine  thoughts  of  the  ages — 

Fall  those  love-thoughts  said  apart, 
Which,  betimes,  when  thou  art  absent, 

Whisper  softly  to  my  heart. 

Do  I  love  thee,  Betsie  Blossom  ? 

Does  the  robin  love  her  nest  ? 
Does  the  blue  sky  love  the  cloudlet 

Whose  soft  hand  has  touched  his  breast  ? 
Does  the  zephyr  love  the  tree-tops  ? 

Does  the  moonbeam  love  the  mead  ? 
Yes,  I  love  thee,  Betsie  Blossom, 

And  my  love  is  love  indeed. 


V:  7 


TAHA  WUS 

COURAGE,  comrades!  shall  the  Mountain  our  am 
bitious  hopes  defy  ? 

Courage!  Lo  the  trail  we  follow  toward  the  peak  that 
cleaves  the  sky! 

These  be  craven  guides  who  warn  us  not  to  dare  to-day 
his  crest: 

Come,  the  Day-King's  bannered  pageant  soon  shall  van 
ish  from  the  West  ! 


Tramping  where  the  avalanches  rive  the  forests  wide 

apart, 
Daring  shaggy  old  Tahawus,  losing  path  but  never  heart! 


TAHA  WUS  9 

Now  we  press  the  virgin  thickets.  Yonder,  flashing  cas 
cades  pour; 

There,  the  fuming,  foaming  torrents  strain  their  jaws  in 
futile  roar. 

Safe  at  last,  and  little  recking  of  our  weariness,  we  stand 
On  this  pinnacle  of  wonder,  sweeping  all  the  vision  grand ! 

God  is  great!  The  hills  declare  it — God  is  great!  The 
vales  confess. 

Winds  and  woods  and  waters  sound  it  through  this  tem 
pled  wilderness. 

Here  is  Nature's  fittest  altar;  here  her  orisons  arise — 
Snowy  clouds  her  daily  incense — tears  of  dew  her  sacri 
fice! 

Mountain  guards  surround  the  stronghold,  staunch  and 

faithful  in  defence; 
In  their  stately  presence  standing,  know,   O  Man,  thy 

impotence! 

Yonder  "  Whiteface,"  sternly  silent,  watches  steadfastly 

his  Gate; 
Everywhere  are  Prophet  fingers  pointing  upward,  fixed 

as  Fate. 


10  TAHA  WUS      , 

"  Skylight  "  from  his  lofty  window  many  a  shining  lake 

espies 
(Chalices  for  giants,  brimming  with  the  vintage  of  the 

skies) ; 

Hillsides  peopled  still  with  forests;  planted — reared — by 

hand  Divine, 
Heirs  of  far  unstoried  ages,  worthy  of  their  noble  line. 

In  the  Southern  sky  see  Iris,  blending  soft,  translucent 

hues; 
Orient's  brow  the  Sun's  last  glances  with  a  crimson  blush 

suffuse — 

Emblems  beautiful,  but  transient,  of  the  pleasures  Earth 

affords ; 
Like  these  calm  enduring  mountains  are  the  joys  that 

Heaven  accords. 

Is  it  strange  that  on  the  hilltops  God  His  presence  oft 

hath  shown — 
That  from  Sinai's  curtained  summit  came  the  law,   as 

from  His  throne  ? 

That  on  Pisgah  to  His  servant,  He  should  point  the 
Promised  Land — 

Or  in  fane  of  blest  Moriah  give  His  chosen  priests  com 
mand  ? 


TAHA  WUS  1 1 

Let  me  on  thy  rocky  forehead  God's  eternal  law  behold! 
Through  thy  clouds  the  glorious  promise  of  a  brighter 
land  unfold! 

Let  me  hear  His  voice  Almighty  in  thy  blast  so  strong 

and  free! 
Then  shall  thou,  O  great  Tahawus,  be  a  holy  place  to  me! 

May  His  presence  who  was  tempted  in  the  Wilderness 

alone 
Here  my  weary  spirit  strengthen — to  my  heart  His  love 

make  known! 

Let  me,  like  the  blest  Apostles,  quench  my  thirst  at  Wis 
dom's  fount! 

Then  my  soul  shall  ever  praise  Him  for  this  Sermon  on 
the  Mount! 


SABBATH   AT   BEACH   LAKE 
(ADIRONDACK  REGION) 

THE  Sabbath  has  dawned,  but  the  winds  know  it  not; 
In  tumultuous  revel  they  roar  'round  our  cot; 
And  the  storm-clouds  have  joined  in  the  chase  on  the 

mountains, 

Whilst  the  floods,  erst  imprisoned,  rush  forth  from  their 
fountains. 

The  dark  waves  are  quivering  in  anxious  unrest; 
The  fear-humbled  cedars  bow  low  from  the  West; 
But  here,  from  this  house  in  the  wilderness,  rise 
Glad  anthems  of  praise  to  the  storm-shrouded  skies. 

12 


SABBATH  AT  BEACH  LAKE  13 

Anon,  as  we  meditate,  stilled  is  the  storm; 
And  Nature  seems  standing  with  reverent  form, 
In  silence  attending  her  Master's  behest, 
Her  turbulent  elements  hushing  in  rest. 

In  groups  now  our  silvery  pathway  we  take 
Where  gracefully  rests  the  white  Arm  of  the  Lake; 
Her  hand  grasps  a  grotto  of  beauty  most  rare, 
With  richest  of  canopies,  tapestry  fair. 

On  mosses  like  these,  fairies  trip  their  light  feet; 

This  rock  for  the  altar  of  giants  is  meet; 

Athwart  leafy  curtains  lie  sun-gilded  bars; 

Yon  pines  are  like  watch-towers  that  call  to  the  stars. 

What  is  said  to  the  echoes,  they  're  sure  to  repeat; 
In  this  wilderness  world,  one  must  still  be  discreet — 
Words  of  kindness  or  slander,  of  love  or  of  hate, 
Return  to  mix  blessing  or  woe  with  our  fate. 

The  clouds  from  the  mountains  like  incense  ascend; 
The  charms  of  bright  Autumn  in  harmony  blend; 
The  twilight  falls  softly  on  hillside  and  shore; 
Night  halts  at  her  chamber  to  open  the  door. 


BOATING    UP  THE   OSWEGATCHIE 

BOATING  up  the  Oswegatchie!— 
Up  the  river  swift  and  strong — 
Flowing  here  with  silent  purpose, 
Which  to  noble  men  belong! — 
Yonder  breaking  into  song! 

Lo,  the  sportive  finny  beauties! — 
Flecked  with  gold  and  silver  gray; 

Hiding  in  the  coolest  coverts — 

Leap  they  now  to  seize  their  prey — 
Leap  to  rue  the  fatal  day. 

Floating  on  the  Oswegatchie, 
In  the  fearful,  solemn  night! 

Start  we  at  the  scream  of  panther — 
Fly  the  red  deer  from  our  light 
Through  the  pines  of  templed  height. 

Camping  on  the  Oswegatchie! 

Spreads  our  tent  like  angel  wings; 

Altar-like  our  camp-fire  blazes, 
Piled  with  fragrant  offerings — 
Sweet  the  rest  that  Nature  brings! 


14 


THE    LILY   OF   THE    LAKE 


L1 


ILY  fair! 

Bring  unto  me 
What  Summer  Wind  and  Wave 

Have  given  thee! 
Drooping  in  modest  mien — 
Yet  blushing  not — serene, 
Guileless  of  vain  pretence, 
Conscious  of  innocence, 
Angel  to  soul  and  sense, 
Sweet,  pure,  and  brave! 

Lily-Bride! 
Bride  of  the  Wave — 
(True,  though  the  jealous  Wind 

Whisper  or  rave — ) 
Lying  in  love  confest, 
Safe  on  his  heaving  breast; 
Prizing  his  kisses — while 
Meeting  Apollo's  smile, 
Courtly  and  kind! 

Lily-Home! 
Home  of  the  Bee — 
Gold-lined  and  draped  in  white, 
King  here  is  he: 
15 


1 6  THE  LIL  Y  OF  THE  LAKE 

Palace  of  perfume  rare! 
Richest  of  royal  fare! 
Cup  fit  for  Ganymede! 
Fairest  of  homes,  indeed, 
Open  to  light! 

Lily-Star! 
Star  of  the  Day — 
Phantom  of  Evening  Star 

Caught  here  astray ; 
Stealing  upon  the  deep 
In  the  dark  hour  of  sleep — 
Captured,  but  turned  with  hope 
Aye  to  the  azure  slope 
Beaming  afar. 

Lily-Crown ! 
Crown  of  the  Lake — 
At  Nature's  banquet  worn — 

Worn  for  her  sake! 
Lake,  robed  in  silken  sheen, 
Smiling,  while  hills  in  green 
Send  her,  from  lordly  heights, 
Tribute-streams  of  delights 
Cheerily  borne! 


THE    BROOK 

SWEET  is  this  breath  of  mountain  air, 
And  this  rest  from  our  wildwood  tramp; 
And  sweet  is  the  brimming  cup  I  quaff 
From  the  brook  behind  our  camp. 

It  flows  through  the  graves  of  ancient  trees, 
That  moulder  in  darkness  and  damp; 

Yet  an  ever  fresh  and  living  stream, 
Is  the  brook  behind  our  camp. 

2 

I? 


1 8  THE  BROOK 

It  treasures  the  glance  of  the  noontide  beam, 
And  the  gleam  of  the  starry  lamp; 

For  pure  as  the  soul  that  is  free  from  guile 
Is  the  brook  behind  our  camp. 

In  vain  seek  the  envious  rocks  and  roots 

Its  freedom  to  crush  or  cramp; 
It  trolls  along  its  liberty  song, 

The  brook  behind  our  camp. 

Often  in  busy  haunts  I  shall  pray — 

Let  my  character  take  its  stamp 
From  the  constancy,  purity,  freedom,  and  force 

Of  the  brook  behind  our  camp! 


• 


- 


- 


CHAZY 

THE  minstrel  breezes  touch  the  chords 
That  sweep  across  the  waves; 
And  echo  answers  to  our  shouts, 
From  distant  mountain  caves. 
While  Cynthia's  cloudy  shallops  skim 

Her  calm  cerulean  sea, 
Here,  in  our  light  canoe,  we  float, 
On  beautiful  Chazy. 
19 


20  CHAZY 

The  mountains,  sombre  and  sublime, 

Stand  bold  against  the  skies, — 
Stern  sentinels  that  sleepless  watch 

The  cradled  lake  that  lies 
In  child-like  innocence  and  trust, 

Breathing  so  peacefully, 
While  starry  dreams  their  light  diffuse 

O'er  beautiful  Chazy. 

Bright  Cynthia,  guide  thy  cloudy  fleet 

Across  thine  azure  sea! 
Ye  warrior  hills,  in  mail  of  green, 

Watch  ever  steadfastly! 
Sweet  lake,  still  trustfully  repose; — 

And  may  my  destiny 
Be  calm  and  bright  as  thou  to-night, 

O  beautiful  Chazy! 


."-•:--;v;-"-:;-:^  •  -v  . 

.••.-.;;;-^^-;r:^:-S.>,^ 

' 


THE    DELAWARE   WATER   GAP 

1859 

BEAUTIFUL  may  be  the  rivers  of  the  distant,  olden 
world, 

Grand' indeed  must  be  its  mountains,  'round  whose  fore 
heads  oft  are  curled 
Snowy  locks  like  those  depending   from   the   old-time 

courtier's  brow; 

But  we  may  not  pause  to  muse  upon  their  boasted  splen 
dors  now; 

For  within  the  ample  limits  of  our  own  beloved  State 
Scenes  replete  with  rare  enticements  our  portrayal  still 
await. 

21 


22  THE  DELAWARE  WATER   CAP 

Have  you  stood  upon  our  borders  where  the  waters  gently 

sweep 
'Twixt  the  stern  and  stately   mountains  ?     These  their 

faithful  vigils  keep 
And,  like  parents  fondly  gazing  on  the  infant  of  their 

care, 
Seem  to  listen  to  the  prattle  of  the  lovely  Delaware. 

'T  was  a  balmy  Summer  evening  when  my  poet  friend 

and  I 
First  beneath  that  placid  current  saw  the  shadows  mingled 

lie, 
While  the  Sun  his  parting  glances  cast  athwart  the  waters 

clear, 

Ere  he  weighed  his  golden  anchor  for  another  hemisphere. 
Near  at  hand,  a  boat  was  lying  on  the  sloping,  pebbled 

strand, 
On  the  sylvan  shore  the  mountain  grew  more  gloomy  and 

more  grand, 

Till,  her  sunny  tresses  buried  low  in  Night's  maternal  lap, 
Joyous  Day  had  sunk  to  slumber  in  the  peaceful  Water 

Gap. 

In  the  morning  we  are  climbing  the  redoubted  Jersey 

Bluff; 
Scaling  Nature's  lofty  battlements,  precipitous  and  rough, 


THE  DELAWARE  WATER   GAP  23 

Where  the  rattlesnake's  reveille  beats  to  warn  you  of  his 
blow, 

And  the  pilot,  fierce  guerilla,  lurks  concealed  to  strike 
the  foe. 

Now  we  pluck  the  starry  laurel  —  joy  from  desolation 
born — 

On  the  highest  peak  the  richest,  like  the  wreath  by  great 
ness  worn. 

As  we  stand  upon  the  summit,  what  a  landscape  greets 

our  eye! 
Looking  Eastward,  town   and  hamlet,   field  and  wood, 

alternate  lie. 
Yonder  basks  the  sleepy  hillside  in  the  sun's  somnific 

beam, 
Now  and  then   a  filmy  shadow   floating  o'er  it  like  a 

dream : 
Just  before  us,    to  the  Westward,    rise  the  heights  of 

Minnesink, 

And  beyond,  the  chain  of  Pocono,  with  many  a  giant  link, 
In  its  everlasting  fetters  holds  the  uncomplaining  Earth, 
Bound  in  unremitting  thraldom  from  the  moment  of  her 

birth. 
Far  below,  the  river  stretches,  like  a  Python,  through  the 

vale, 


24  THE  DELAWARE   WATER   GAP 

On  the  shore,  a  crawling  reptile,  seems  the  Dragon  of  the 
Rail; 

Glancing  upward,  we  behold  the  graceful  cloudlets  over 
head, 

Like  the  spotless  robes  of  angels,  on  the  azure  meadow 
spread. 

So  we  gaze  with  happy  wonder  all  around,  above,  below, 

While  our  hearts  with  warm  devotion  to  the  Great  De 
signer  glow. 

When  at  night  we  find  our  chamber  full  of  gentle,  holy 

light, 
Every  low  and  carnal  passion  from  our  bosoms  takes  its 

flight. 

As  we  muse  upon  the  pleasures  and  the  glories  of  the  day, 
In  a  trance  of  silent  ecstasy  our  spirits  float  away; 
Every  thought  is  hushed  in  silence,  every  busy  sense  is 

still, 
Lulled  to  slumber  by  the  music  of  the  plaintive  whippoor- 

will. 


• 

..  •     ^;v.M&** 


INVOCATION 

AS   comes   the   clear   Dawn   to   the   gray,    star-eyed 
Morning, 

As  come  the  warm  pulses  of  love-life  to  youth; 
So  graciously  shine,  with  Thy  brightness  adorning! 
So  come  to  my  soul,  Holy  Spirit  of  Truth ! 

Long  over  my  thought  has  Doubt  mistily  brooded; 

This  heart  the  world-demons  have  sought  to  debase; 
Temptations  have  pressed  me;  false  lights  have  deluded; 

O  give  me  Thy  true  Light,  Sweet  Spirit  of  Grace! 

Across  the  still  sea  has  the  Day-King,  ascending, 

Paved  with  gold  a  plain  path  to  his  throne  in  the  sky — 

So,  show  me  some  golden  path  heavenward  tending 
And  along  that  bright  way  let  my  faith  gladly  fly! 

Thou,  Who  at  the  Jordan  so  sweetly  didst  hover 
Above  the  Messiah  of  God,  Gentle  Dove, — 

Now  one  of  His  straylings  guide  Thou  to  safe  cover, 
And  abide  ever  near  me,  Dear  Spirit  of  Love! 

25 


"WE  WALK  BY  .FAITH;   NOT   BY  SIGHT' 
(2  Corinthians  v.,  7) 

I   SAW  a  sad  young  woman,  on  the  car, 
Tending  a  puny  boy,  whose  eyeballs  told 
A  tale  of  helpless  blindness.     But  he  clung 
Close  to  his  mother;  listened  for  her  voice; 
Spoke  to  her  often ;  wished  to  touch  her  hand. 
She  was  his  joy — light  of  his  sunless  life. 
Weary,  his  trembling  little  limbs  lay  down 
To  rest.     His  eyelids  closed  o'er  sightless  balls; 
But,  ever  and  anon,  he  waked  and  wailed — 
"  Mother,  don't  leave  me  in  the  dark  alone!  " 
And  yet  again,  in  fretful  monotone, 
"  Mother,  don't  leave  me  in  the  dark  alone!  " 

26 


WE  WALK  BY  FAITH  2J 

With  mother  absent,  all  was  dark  to  him ; 
When  she  was  surely  near,  light  blessed  his  life. 
She  was  his  all ;  and,  conscious  of  her  love 
And  precious  presence,  he  would  not  complain, 
Though  Night's  weird  chamber  compassed  him  for  aye, 
As  dark  and  narrow  as  the  house  of  Death. 

So  grope  we  here,  dear  Lord,  and  so  complain, 

If  fearful  that  Thy  love  is  shut  from  us. 

More  tender  than  a  mother's  love  is  Thine! 

Its  rays  can  pierce  our  else  unfathomed  gloom — 

Reveal  horizons  wide  and  bright  with  hope, 

A  path,  though  straight,  and  thorny,  too,  betimes, 

Hallowed  by  blood-drops  of  Thy  sacrifice, 

And  leading  on  to  honor  and  to  Thee. 

The  sweet  effulgence  of  Thy  presence  lights 

Our  way,  and  makes  our  blindness  turn  to  sight. 

With  Thee  we  're  blest — without  Thee  desolate — 

Oh,  never  leave  us  in  the  dark  alone! 


28 


THE    PEACE   OF   GOD 

(Phil,  iv.,  7) 


OH,  who  can  e'er  compute  its  height, 
Or  tell  how  deep  and  broad, 
The  Peace  that  fills  with  pure  delight 
The  soul  that  trusts  in  God! 


Though  Calumny  may  wield  her  blade, 

And  Chastisement  her  rod, 
The  pure  in  heart  may  undismayed 

Dwell  in  the  Peace  of  God. 


"  Through  Jesus  Christ  " — His  grace  alone 

Our  hearts  with  peace  can  fill; 
E'en  Sorrow's  waves  their  Master  own — 

Commanding — "  Peace!     Be  still!  " 


Whatever  else  Thou  dost  deny, 
Father,  this  boon  bestow, 

That  while  I  live,  and  when  I  die, 
Thy  Peace  I  still  may  know! 
29 


"  MASTER  !  WHERE    DWELLEST   THOU  ?  " 
(John  i.,  38) 

WHERE  dwells  the  Christ  ?     In  palaces  of  ease  ? 
In  courts  of  splendor,  or  in  halls  of  mirth  ? 
These  would  not  welcome  Him — He  seeks  not  these; 
But  dwells  with  those  who  know  His  royal  worth. 

Where  dwells  the  Christ  ?     In  scenes  of  peace  alone  ? 

Far  down  the  verdant  vale  of  safe  content  ? 
Nay;  for  to  Him  no  earthly  rest  was  known; 

But  sword  and  strife  with  Him  on  earth  were  sent. 
30 


"MASTER!   WHERE  DWELLEST  THOU?  "       31 

Where   dwells   the   Christ  ?       On    fierce    Temptation's 
mount — 

On  stormy  sea — in  solitudes  unknown — 
Wherever  Grief  unlocks  her  tearful  fount — 

In  stricken  Sorrow's  garden,  dark  and  lone! 

Where  dwells  the  Christ  ?     Amidst  the  poor,  the  blind, 
The  broken-hearted,  sin-sick,  and  defiled — 

Restoring  lepers,  and  the  shattered  mind — 
Raising  the  dead;  blessing  the  tender  child! 

Scarce  can  we  say  the  Lord  of  Glory  dwelt 

Amidst  the  scenes  of  human  joy  or  ill; 
Yet,  on  our  earth  (whose  griefs  His  great  heart  felt) 

The  perfume  of  His  presence  lingers  still. 

Aye,  more  than  this;  for  in  the  deeper  sense, 
He  dwells  to-day  with  those  who  love  His  Word: 

This  gift  I  crave,  with  longing  most  intense, 
The  sweet  indwelling  of  my  precious  Lord. 


i865 

WHAT  hast  thou  hidden,  mournful  Night! 
What  have  ye  seen,  O  stars! 
A  country  turning  to  the  Light, 

Covered  with  sacred  scars, 
Plunged  back  in  dark  and  dire  distress 

By  one  foul,  fiendish  deed 
That  leaves  a  people  comfortless — 
Makes  every  true  heart  bleed. 
32 


1 86s 

It  was  no  common  crime  that  struck 

That  God-like  man  to  earth — 
Ruthless,  the  tender  eye  to  pluck 

That  watched  our  land's  new  birth. 
No  word — nor  Treason,  Fratricide, 

Nor  Parricide — can  tell 
His  act,  whose  hand  was  so  allied 

With  powers  of  deepest  hell. 

This  was  our  brother,  father — more;- 

Chosen  by  mother-land, 
His  name  her  valiant  sons  adore 

In  every  patriot  band. 
God  of  our  brethren  and  our  sires! 

Be  Thou  our  Father  now; 
Whilst  at  our  altars  and  our  fires 

In  prayerful  grief  we  bow ! 


33 


TRENTON  FALLS 

THINE  is  the  charm,  O  Kauy-a-hoo-ra  bright! 
*T  is  not  the  infant  cascade's  airy  dress 
Nor  old  Niagara's  sacerdotal  robe 
That  clothes  thy  stream  between  these  knightly  cliffs; 
But,  in  the  amber,  seemly  and  mature, 
Of  rich  experience  and  hopeful  strength 
Thou  'rt  clad;  and  when  Apollo  from  his  height 
Above  the  trees  (Briareus-like  that  lift 
Their  hundred  arms  aloft  in  mute  surprise) 
Smiles  on  thee,  thou  in  turn  dost  smile. 
34 


TRENTON  FALLS  35 

The  golden  glory  of  thy  graceful  form, 

With  silver  sandals  shod,  moves  down  the  slope 

In  conscious  loveliness  and  majesty. 

Far  down  below,  I  mark  the  fretted  foam 

Dash  on  the  broad-tiled  roof,  beneath  whose  eaves 

The  water-sprites  must  dwell.     These  issue  forth 

Anon  in  merry  troops  to  sweep  away 

The  vagrant  spray,  that,  like  a  diamond  dust, 

Bestrews  the  verdure  of  thy  lichened  walls. 

Yet  further  down,  and  oh!  what  fateful  wrath 
Of  envy-angered  rocks  thou  must  endure! 
They  rack  thy  writhing  form,  nor  heed  thy  cries, 
But,  fierce  and  merciless,  they  wring  and  break 
Thy  shapeliness — nor  spare  the  torture,  till 
Thou  driftest  on,  the  wreck  of  what  thou  wast, 
Feeble  and  faint,  to  fall  an  easy  prey 
To  man's  coarse  purposes.     He  drives  thee.  then, 
A  helpless,  hopeless,  unresisting  slave. 


LAUGHING  EYES 


ORIPE,  red  lips! 
O  laughing  eyes! 
Beauty  like  yours 

Hath  high  emprise. 
Then  why  not  spare 
Poor,  humble  me! 
Not  great  my  fault! — 
Show  clemency! 


I  only  looked 

With  reverence  true; 
Nor  sinful  thought 

Nor  impulse  knew. 
I  dared  not  even 

Covet  such  prize — 
Then  mock  me  not, 

O  sweet,  bright  eyes! 


O  pearly  teeth! 

O  heavenly  eyes! 
For  one  what  joy 

From  you  shall  rise. 
But  not  for  me — 

Ah,  not  for  me! 
'T  were  ecstasy! 

'T  is  agony! 


Yet  let  me  gaze 

Upon  thy  face! 
I  '11  crush  the  hope 

Of  near  embrace. 
One  peep  into 

This  paradise — 
Banished  then  I ! 

O  beauteous  eyes! 


37 


O  glossy  hair! 

O  lovely  eyes! 
This  moment  blest 

Too  swiftly  flies. 
One  moment  more 

In  bliss  to  bask! 
Not  much  to  give — 

Though  much  to  ask. 


Then,  all  of  life 

Will  take  its  hue 
From  one  sweet  thought 

Of  worship  true. 
My  course  henceforth — 

Foolish  or  wise — 
Shall  shine  with  light 

From  glorious  eyes. 


38 


Soft,  blooming  cheek! 

Sweet,  cruel  eyes! 
Far,  far  away 

My  shallop  plies. 
Farewell,  bright  face 

And  graceful  form — 
I  go  to  meet 

Life's  stress  and  storm! 


Nay,  look  not  so! 

Art  thou  not  glad  ? 
A  downcast  glance! 

A  tear!  Art  sad  ? 
O  matchless  joy! 

O  blest  surprise! 
Forever  mine! 

Dear,  loving  eyes! 


39 


HELLAS 

HELLAS,  happy  Hellas!     Mighty  and  glorious! 
Lovingly  thine  azure  sky  embraced  thy  fruitful 

sea; 

Fruitful  in  triumphs!     Hellas  victorious! 
Fruitful,  too,  in  commerce  from  thy  galleys  fleet  and  free! 

Hellas,  happy  Hellas!  crowned  and  resplendent! 
Wisdom,  culture,  eloquence,  thy  jewels  rich  and  rare! 

Bowed  low  the  nations,  conquered,  dependent, 
Proud  to  catch  the  sunbeams  of  thy  smile  so  sweet  and 
fair! 

Hellas,  happy  Hellas!     Grateful,  revering, 
Quaff  we  still  thy  peerless  streams  of  art  and  poesy. 

Thy  heroes  greet  we: — Spirits  appearing 
Yonder,  where  the  sky  serene  bends  down  to  kiss  thy  sea. 


• 

• 


I 


THE  GLORY  OF  ATHENS 

F)ERICLES,  statesman  and  hero,  fresh  from  his  con- 

1  quest  of  Samos, 

Stood  on  the  Pnyx  in  his  triumph,  drinking  the  praises 

of  Athens. 
Into  the  Port  of  Pyraeus  had  entered  his  gaily-decked 

galleys  : — 
Oars  plashing  stroke  by  stroke  onward,  guided  by  flute's 

dulcet  music. 
Bronzed  were  the  seamen  and  soldiers;  brave  were  their 

hearts;  and  most  hearty 
Shouts  did  they  send  'gainst  the  Sea  Wall,  and  up  to 

great  Pallas  Athenae — 
Shouts  of  devotion  to  Hellas;  to  Pericles,  grandest  of 

leaders. 

42 


*! 


!'. 


Now  on  the  Pnyx  towered  he,  the  noblest  of  all  that  as 
sembly; — 
Like   the   Acropolis  height  looking  calmly  on  jubilant 

Athens. 
Scarcely  complete  was  her  Parthenon,  brilliant,  sublime, 

and  majestic, 
Holding  the  rays  of  the  sun  in  purest  and  dazzling  white 

marble ; — 
Scheme  of  the  artist  soul  Phidias,  Pericles'  friend  and 

companion. 
Gazed  he  upon  it,  this  chieftain,  poet  more  even  than 

warrior, 
Gazed  on  this  glorious  home  of  the  goddess  of  Athens, 

great  Pallas: 
Then  to  the  grateful  assembly  he  spoke,  interrupting 

their  plaudits: — 

43 


Yonder  behold  your  Acropolis,  sacred  forever  to  Beauty! 
Beauty  will  rule  your  Republic,  kindest  and  gentlest  of 

tyrants. 
Only  to  her  shall  be  yielded  the  homage  of  freemen  of 

Hellas. 
Shout  not  your  praises  to  Pericles,  soldier  and  citizen 

only. 
Athens,  whose  mission  and  destiny  are  on  that  hill-top 

emblazoned, 
Calls  for  your  paeans  of  glory;  and  Athens  is  daughter 

of  Beauty. 

Honor  her  wisdom  and  art,  philosophy,  poetry,  music ; — 
All  that  is  lovely  in  thought  and  beaming  with  genius  and 

culture. 

These  are  the  themes  that  entrance  us,  greater  than  car 
nage  and  conquest: 

Over  them  <///,  and  pervading,  sits  the  divinity,  Pallas, 
Goddess  of  all  that  is  wise,  and  thus  of  the  Beautiful  also, 

44 


Sits  in  the  highest  of  councils, — Beauty  enthroned  and 
enthralling. 

Sophocles,  sweetest  of  poets,  no  sentiment  gives  us  be 
yond  this; 

Socrates,  thinker  and  questioner,  questions  not  this  is 
pure  wisdom ; 

Great  Anaxagoras,  sage  and  reasoner,  will  not  oppose 
me: 

None  shall  be  skeptical  here;  and  none  shall  refuse  his 
allegiance. 

Graces  and  Muses  unite  to  lead  us  to  willing  subjection 

To  one  sweet  Sublimity  only — to  Beauty,  Serene  and 
most  Queenly. 

Thus  spoke  the   Orator,   matchless,    the   gracious   and 

mighty  Olympian: 
Joyously,  then,  he  abandoned  his  wreath  for  the  smiles 

of  Aspasia. 

45 


YES,  mine,  my  own ! 
Bone  of  my  bone! 
My  other  soul 
That  makes  me  whole! 
Thus  flesh  and  mind 
One  tie  can  bind. 
My  lovely  face, — 
My  form  of  grace, — 
My  charming  smile 
Devoid  of  guile — 


46 


My  lips  sincere, 
Sweetest  when  near; 
For  me  the  thought 
With  goodness  fraught, 
And  sweetest  word 
Ear  ever  heard 
In  tenderest  tone 
To  mortal  known! 
Heart  of  my  heart — 
The  sacred  part! 
I  form  with  thee 
One  unity. 
My  gentle  guide — 
My  only  pride — 
My  hope,  my  life, 
My  joy,  my  Wife! 


47 


BORN  ON  THE  WEDDING  DAY! 

I'M  twenty-one  to-day — This  morn  I  told  her; 
Just  reached  majority — not  one  day  older! 
No  one  would  think,  she  'd  said,  that  you  are  fifty 
With  hair  so  brown — with  air  so  gay  and  thrifty. 

Nay,  just  of  age  I  am;  loving  is  living — 

And  one  and  twenty  years  have  you  been  giving 

Into  my  spirit  floods  of  light  and  sweetness, 

Whilst  Time  has  sped  with  wings  of  passing  fleetness. 

Then  say  not  I  am  fifty,  this  good  May-day! 
I  count  behind  full  many  a  glad  and  gay  day 
All  spent  with  you;  and  hope  for  more  in  plenty; 
But  mind,  to-day,  I  'm  only  one  and  twenty! 
48 


A  WEDDING  ANNIVERSARY 

(AFTER  SIXTY  YEARS) 

THE  year  had  climbed  its  topmost  height 
Just  sixty  years  ago, 
Had  reached  the  region  of  delight — 
Midsummer's  calm  plateau. 

The  well-contented  golden  days, 

Reluctant  to  depart, 
Basked  in  the  loving,  ardent  rays 

Fresh  from  the  sun's  great  heart. 

Where  trooped  the  multi-tinted  bloom, 

O'er  lawn  and  garden  fair, 
From  morning  gray  to  evening  gloom, 

Joy  was  beyond  compare. 

The  valley-lilies,  meekly  small, 

In  worship  low  had  bent 
To  lordly  lilacs,  grand  and  tall; 

And  both  their  day  had  spent. 

Now  roses,  too,  had  filled  the  June 

With  hue  and  perfume  rare; — 
Whilst  thrush  and  catbird  sang  in  tune 

With  Nature  everywhere. 
49 


50  A    WEDDING  ANNIVERSARY 

The  next  would  be  the  Nation's  day: 

For  sixty  years  and  more 
Our  land,  bedecked  with  banners  gay, 

Had  heard  its  cannons  roar. 

The  land  to  Freedom  consecrate. 

In  bloom  and  verdure  clad, 
In  waving  corn  and  ripened  wheat, 

With  hope  and  promise  glad! 

Love  measures  not  by  years,  I  ween, 

Her  voyage  o'er  the  seas; 
To  thtm  it  seems  but  yester-e'en 

Their  good  ship  took  the  breeze. 

And  many  a  day  they  've  sailed  and  sailed, 
Nor  recked  the  hours  that  passed  ; 

They  saw,  howe'er  the  winds  prevailed, 
A  haven  sure  at  last. 

To  them,  Great  Father,  still  be  kind! 

Nor  let  thy  favors  cease ! 
With  store  and  basket,  strength  and  mind, 

Give  length  of  days  and  peace! 
July  3,  1898. 


THE   MAGI 

(A  CHRISTMAS  CAROL  AND  SONG  OF  EPIPHANY) 

THEY  came  from  the  East,  from  the  source  of  light  ; 
Where  ages  ago  the  day  was  born; 
Whence  rides  the  sun  in  his  wondrous  might, 
His  chariot  wet  with  the  dew  of  morn. 

They  turned  from  the  sun  to  track  a  star, 
But  never  for  this  did  their  zeal  grow  less; 

And  they  hailed  at  last,  after  journeying  far, 
The  glorious  Sun  of  Righteousness. 

51 


52  THE  MAGI 

They  came  from  the  East,  the  Land  of  Spice — 
And  laden  with  perfumes  rich  and  rare; — 

A  fragrant  and  precious  sacrifice 

Like  incense  of  humble  and  holy  prayer. 

They  found  a  flower  in  Bethlehem's  inn, 
Far  sweeter  than  in  the  Orient  grows; 

Unsoil'd  of  earth,  untouched  of  sin, 
Was  the  bud  of  Sharon's  lovely  Rose. 

They  came  from  the  East;  and  of  Kingly  state 
Their  peers  had  been  in  their  native  land; 

Yet  now  for  them  all  it  was  meet  to  mate 
With  the  lowly  carpenter's  family  band. 

For  in  that  infant  meek  and  fair 

They  marked  the  signs  of  lofty  birth ; 

And  gladly  they  gave  Him  homage  there — 
The  rightful  King  of  all  the  Earth. 


LINES    WRITTEN    FOR   THE    OPENING    OF   A 

HALL    DEVOTED    TO    MUSIC,    ORATORY, 

SOCIAL  FUNCTIONS,  AND  THE  DRAMA 

"TP  IS  many  a  league  across  the  seas  to  Thrace; 
1       And  many  an  age  has  run  its  reckless  race 
Since  at  the  sacred,  sweet  Castalian  Spring 
On  Mount  Parnassus,  mortals  sought  to  bring 
Their  votive  offerings  to  the  glorious  Nine — 

53 


54  LINES 

The  Muses,  both  by  birth  and  deeds  divine — 

Daughters  of  Zeus  and  fair  Mnemosyne — 

Patrons  of  History  and  Poesy — 

Clio,  Euterpe,  and  their  sisters  seven, 

Who  brought  the  thoughts  of  gods  to  earth  from  heaven. 

At  feasts  of  great  Immortals,  when  they  sang, 
Apollo  played,  and  grand  Olympus  rang 
With  wave  on  wave  of  high,  majestic  song, 
And  then  with  rapturous  plaudits  loud  and  long. 

They  sing  the  story  of  Creation  fair, 
And  all  the  dreadful  perils  heroes  dare. 
For  Cadmus,  at  his  nuptials,  they  rejoice; 
Or,  erst,  lament  Achilles'  death,  with  voice 
So  mournful,  and  with  tones  of  such  distress, 
That  gods  and  men  mix  tears  of  tenderness. 
They  know  the  past,  the  future  they  foretell ; 
A  favored  few  of  mortals  feel  their  spell 
And  write,  or  sing,  or  strike  the  stirring  lyre 
With  themes  that  thrill,  or  passions  fierce  as  fire. 

To  call  adown  the  ages — o'er  the  seas — 
The  Muses  to  indite  such  lines  as  these 
Presumption  were;  but  not  t'  invoke  their  grace 


LINES  55 

To  bless  and  brighten  this  our  chosen  place 

For  grave  instruction  and  diversion  pure, 

For  plays  that  please  and  doctrines  that  endure — 

For  voice  of  cantatrice,  or  choral  song — 

For  lightsome  step  of  mirth, — for  social  throng. 

Our  Music  Hall,  adorned  as  seen  to-night 
By  many  a  lovely  face  with  eyes  of  light, 
(Outshining  far  the  lesser  charms  of  art 
Playing  their  modest  and  appointed  part,) 
Might  well  Calliope  with  epic  greet, 
Or  give  Terpsichore  a  welcome  meet — 
Or  Polyhymnia — singing  sacred  strains — 
Or  Clio  summing  up  the  Century's  gains — 
Thalia,  radiant  with  her  mirthful  eyes, 
Or  Sweet  Urania,  telling  of  the  skies. 

Ah,  well!     Though  nymphs  and  goddesses  no  more 
May  walk  on  Time's  dull  and  prosaic  shore; — 
Nor  ev'n  an  Orpheus  hitherward  may  roam, 
Seeking  Eurydice  so  far  from  home; — 
Yet  inspirations  now,  as  ne'er  before, 
Come  trooping  over  from  the  further  shore 
Where  Spirit-broods,  unbound  by  flesh  and  sense — 
As  birds  of  passage  come — we  know  not  whence — 


56  LINES 

Bring  gladsome  message  to  the  weary  soul — 
Add  truest  wealth  to  earth's  penurious  dole. 

So  may  we  see,  upon  our  modest  stage, 
The  fruits  that  ripen  in  this  later  age — 
The  fruits  of  wisdom,  wit,  and  song, — display 
Their  charms  to  these  dear  folk  for  many  a  day! 
And  oft  when  Night  in  her  white  garden  path, 
Sickle  in  hand,  finds  bounteous  aftermath 
Of  starry  blossoms,  here  may  Merit  find, 
Amidst  our  borders,  garlands  to  her  mind, 
And  plenteous  sheaves  in  joyful  harvest  bind! 


WELCOME  TO  THE  DELEGATES  AT  THE  NA 
TIONAL  SUNDAY-SCHOOL  CONVENTION 

LO,  the  throng  incoming  with  the  Springtide — 
Mingling  grateful  anthems  with  the  bird — 
Visiting,  like  showers  of  sweet  refreshing, 

Groves  whose  buds  to  life  are  gently  stirred! 
Greet  we  these,  our  brethren,  bringing  with  them 

Promise  of  the  blossom  of  the  soul ; 
Watered  by  the  showers  of  heavenly  blessing  ; 
Seeking,  like  the  birds,  a  joyous  goal. 

Chorus  : 

Give  we  now  to  all  a  cordial  greeting, 

Welcome!  welcome!  welcome  to  our  hearts! 

Glad  that  from  our  souls — though  time  be  fleeting — 
Holy  Christian  friendship  ne'er  departs. 

57 


$8  WELCOME 

These  have  caught  the  spirit  of  the  Master, 

Calling  little  children  to  their  Lord — 
Seeking  out,  betimes,  the  poor,  forsaken — 

Bearing  them  the  gospel  of  the  Word; — 
Giving  here  and  there  a  cup  of  water 

From  the  ever-brimming  fount  of  life — 
Lifting  from  despair  the  son  and  daughter 

Fallen  in  the  sad  and  painful  strife. 

Chorus  : — Give  we  now  to  all,  etc. 

Give  us  in  our  labor,  gracious  Father, 

Faith  like  that  which  Noah  had  of  old! 
While  the  threatening  tempest  yet  must  gather, 

May  we  to  the  Ark  conduct  Thy  fold! 
Building,  trusting,  hoping  for  deliverance — 

Riding  then  the  storm,  we  will  not  fear, — 
Till  the  Spirit-Dove  shall  bring  us  tidings 

That  the  Sacred  Mount  of  rest  is  near. 
Chorus : — Give  we  now  to  all,  etc. 


SUNG  AT  THE  TWELFTH  ANNIVERSARY  OF 

THE    NEWARK   PHILOMATHIC    SOCIETY, 

MAY,    1866 

>fT*  IS  sweet  in  Spring  through  garden  or  glade, 

1       To  gather  the  garlands  that  bloom  but  to  fade; 
But  sweeter  far  in  the  Springtime  of  youth 
To  gather  the  fadeless  flowers  of  Truth. 
When  Summer  the  life-blood  of  Nature  warms, 
We  gladly  pluck  fruit  from  her  generous  arms; 
But  the  fruits  of  a  noble  manhood's  prime 
Are  more  precious  than  those  of  the  sunniest  clime. 
Give  praise!     Give  praise  to  the  glorious  King 
Who  gives  Life's  Summer  and  Spring. 

From  year  to  year  this  favored  band 

Have  passed  through  a  pleasant  and  beautiful  land — 

Where  Purity's  fruits  and  Poetry's  flowers 

Have  gladdened  the  flight  of  the  swift-winged  hours — 

Found  still  by  each  Northward-journeying  sun 

With  hearts  all  united  and  aims  ever  one. 

The  flowers  and  fruits  of  peace  we  bring! 

The  triumphs  of  truth  and  love  we  sing! 

Give  praise!     Give  praise  to  the  glorious  King 

Who  gives  Life's  Summer  and  Spring. 

59 


CHRISTMAS  HYMN 

1868 

ACROSS  the  Jordan,  and  from  far, 
Come  eager  Eastern   Sages; 
Still,  meteor-like,  yon  moving  star 

Each  eye  and  heart  engages. 
In  Bethlehem's  hovel,  poor  and  small, 

Their  humble  homage  centres; 
'T  is  here  the  mighty  Lord  of  all 
Our  world  of  sorrow  enters. 

Chorus : — O  happy  day!     O  happy  place! 

Wondrous  indeed  the  story! 
There  dwelt  divine  and  infant  grace — 

Frail  form  with  God-like  glory. 

The  Child  in  Bethlehem's  manger  born — 

The  Man  with  grief  acquainted — 
The  Christ  whom  sinners  dared  to  scorn 

Now  reigns  o'er  all  the  sainted. 
But  still  He  loves,  as  once  of  old, 

The  little  ones  to  gather — 
Shelters  the  lambs  within  His  fold 

And  brings  them  to  His  Father. 

Chorus : — O  happy  day!     O  happy  place!  etc. 
61 


SONG  FOR   MERCANTILE   LIBRARY  DINNER, 
NOVEMBER,   1868 

A I R — A  mtrica 

WHEN  Day's  bright  work  is  done, 
Cloud  escorts  to  the  sun 
Their  flags  entwine. 
When  Summer's  mission  ends, 
Autumn  her  glories  blends, 
And  many  a  gem  depends 
From  tree  and  vine. 
62 


SONG  63 

Thus,  twined  and  blended  here, 
Our  hearts  in  love  draw  near 

This  festal  eve. 
To  some,  Day  yet  is  bright 
With  Summer's  bloom  in  sight; — 
O'er  others,  Autumn's  light 

Its  spell  doth  weave. 

Like  Trade's  great  thoroughfares, 
Piled  high  with  varied  wares, 

Are  marts  of  thought. 
From  tomes  of  mingled  lore 
On  shelves  we  've  known  of  yore, 
Our  minds — from  many  a  store — 

This  night  are  taught. 

O,  may  we  merchants  be 
Of  what  shall  make  men  free 

In  age  or  youth! 
And  when,  in  street  or  hall, 
'T  is  asked  what  wares  we  call; — 
We  '11  answer,  each  for  all, 

WE  BUY  THE  TRUTH! 


SUNG    AT     THE    TWENTY-FIFTH    ANNIVER- 
SARY   OF  A  FAITHFUL   MINISTRY 

FOR  all  the  space  our  friend  has  wrought, 
We  thank  Thee,  Lord,  and  mark  Thy  hand 
Through  days,  with  showers  of  mercy  fraught, 
Through  years,  with  bows  of  promise  spanned. 

For  all  the  grace  on  him  bestowed, 
For  all  Great  Wisdom  hath  withheld; 

For  strength  and  weakness,  sun  and  cloud, 
We  praise  Thee  now — all  doubts  dispelled? 

Now  on  his  loved  ones,  and  on  him, 

May  all  Thy  richest  blessings  fall! 
Our  strength  is  frail;  our  sight  grows  dim; 

But  none  on  Thee  shall  vainly  call! 
64 


THE  COLORADO  AND  ITS  CANON 

SWEEP  grandly  on,  O  fierce  and  mighty  flood, 
Artery  of  sentient  hills  serene  and  tall — 
Whose  red  arms,  lifted,  claim  more  ancient  blood 
Than  we  who  count  our  sires  from  Adam's  Fall! 

65 


66  THE   COLORADO  AND  ITS  CANON 

Why  dost  thou  choose  to  wash  these  rugged  steeps, 
Rather  than  wander  on  the  sunlit  plain  ? 

Dost  love  to  plash  about  the  donjon  keeps, — 
Thy  current  fretted  with  its  murky  stain  ? 

O,  what  are  storied  castles  on  the  Rhine 

Compared  with  these  more  ancient  and  more  grand  ? 
And  what  the  streams  of  Alp  and  Apennine 

Beside  this  torrent  of  our  sunset-land  ? 

'Mongst  Northern  snows  it  lifts  its  throbbing  head; 

Its  foot  rests  calmly  in  the  tropic  sand. 
Its  life  so  restless — all  disturbed  its  bed — 

Sleeps  when  with  yonder  gulf  locked  hand  in  hand. 

Ah,  life  is  all  so  like  this  turbid  stream! 

And  frowning  walls  hem  our  imperilled  path; 
But,  from  its  source,  each  drop  bears  wisest  scheme: 

Peace  wakes  at  last  from  fitful  dreams  of  wrath. 


ON  LAKE  HURON 

TO  "  look  through  Nature  up  to  Nature's  God  " — 
To  know  that  in  the  graceful,  bending  sky 
The  King  of  Heaven  is  bending  over  us — 
Encompassing  about  His  chosen  ones 
With  sure  protection  and  a  joy  serene — 
To  feel  His  breath  in  every  passing  breeze, 

67 


68  ON  LAKE  HURON 

And  in  the  smiling  sun  to  meet  His  eye! 
Such  precious  thought  and  feeling  like  to  this 
Are  far  too  grand  in  their  expansive  swell 
For  the  poor,  scanty  dress  of  threadbare  words. 

And  why  may  not  the  soul  each  moment  rise 
To  contemplation  from  ethereal  heights — 
When  spirit-wings  droop  near  us  and  invite 
To  regions  purer  than  the  realm  of  sense  ? 
Alas,  we  steep  our  better  part  in  sin, 
Or  let  the  chain  of  sloth  be  bound  about 
The  languid  faculties  in  bondage  vile: — 
Not  that  with  sudden  onset  overcome 
Of  evil,  we  are  thrown  and  firmly  held 
Apart  from  pure  communings  with  our  God 
Through  sacred  mediums  by  Him  ordained ; 
But,  by  degrees  of  which  we  take  no  note — 
By  heeding  not  to  keep  the  heart  attuned 
To  lofty  themes,  worthy  a  lofty  birth, 
We  loose  the  tie  that  bound  us  to  the  sky, 
While,  hour  by  hour,  the  spirit's  guiding  light 
Beneath  the  dark  horizon  sadly  sinks. 
We  fail  to  note  the  twilight  of  the  soul, 
Nor  dream  that  night  is  stealing  o'er  the  view;- 
Until,  perchance,  when  rising  to  look  out 


ON  LAKE  HURON  69 

Upon  the  marvels  of  the  universe, 

We  find  the  vision  barred  on  every  side 

And  naught  sublime  that  offers  intercourse. 

Thank  God!     This  blest  communion  still  I  hold, 
And  feel  this  moment  its  exalting  spell, 
While  standing  on  this  stately  vessel's  deck — 
A  pure  delight  inhaling  with  the  breeze. 
Meanwhile  the  Lake,  her  throbbing  bosom  cleft 
By  the  sharp  keel,  gives  forth  a  soft  complaint, 
Yet  smiles  where'er  the  morning's  diamond  rays 
Glitter  resplendent  on  her  silver  plumes: 
Meanwhile,  the  clouds  alternate  grow  and  melt — 
Each  instant  taking  new  and  beauteous  form, 
Or,  in  a  transitory  grandeur,  stand 
Above  the  distant  shore — itself  a  cloud. 


TWO  SUBLIMITIES 

["There  are  two  Sublimities  in  nature— one  of  Motion;  one  of 
Rest.  The  first,  Niagara  ;  the  second,  Mont  Blanc." — Remark  of 
Kiehard  Cobden  to  his  friend  Go  Id  win  Smith.] 


T 


IS  meet  it  should  be  so! 

Sublimity  of  motion  for  our  land, 
Whose  life,  in  strong  pulsations,  deep  and  grand, 
No  rest  can  ever  know. 


TWO   SUBLIMITIES 


But,  where  the  icy  crest, 
So  coldly  brilliant,  crowns  the  regal  hill, 
Behold  the  symbol  of  a  changeless  will — 

Sublimity  of  rest! 

3 

There  Time  is  old.     His  brow 
Is  seared  and  silvered  with  the  patriarch's  hoar; 
Though  in  the  fateful  past  he  never  wore 

A  nobler  mien  than  now. 

4 

Here  Time  is  young: 

The  blood  of  youth  is  coursing  through  his  frame; 
And  lo!  e'en  now,  in  loftiest  paeans,  Fame 

America  has  sung. 

5 

How  glorious  here  to  stand! 
At  Nature's  shrine  uncovered  then  to  bend; 
And  here  receive,  while  love  and  reverence  blend, 

A  baptism  from  her  hand! 

6 

Most  glorious  't  is  of  all 
To  stand  with  Freedom,  whose  resistless  wave 


7-  TWO  SUBLIMITIES 

Oppression  tries  to  stem — herself  to  save 
From  her  impending  fall! 


That  baptism,  to  endure 
Which,  though  it  be  of  blood,  must  ever  show 
Athwart  the  flood  a  clear,  resplendent  bow 

Of  peace  benign  and  pure. 
NIAGARA  FALLS,  September  14,  1864. 


"ADORNING  THE  DOCTRINE" 
(Titus  ii.,  10) 

ADORN  the  doctrine  of  the  Lord — 
For  me  how  great  the  task ! 
Adorn  the  glory  of  His  Word 
In  whose  bright  beams  I  bask! 

Yet,  fresh  from  lucid  depths  of  truth, 

This  pearl  of  peerless  ray 
Is  set  most  fittingly,  in  sooth. 

When  fixt  in  humble  clay. 

If  barren  rocks,  though  bald  and  scarred, 

Grow  bright  beneath  the  beams, 
Which,  through  sweet  Morning's  gates  unbarred, 

Pour  in  refulgent  streams: 

Then,  gardens  sown  with  seed  divine 

Should  shine  in  loveliest  dress, 
When  o'er  them  smiles,  in  peace  benign, 

The  Sun  of  Righteousness. 

Forbid,  dear  Sun,  that  sombre  pall 

Of  doubt  should  thee  eclipse, 
Or  sin's  dread  shadows  ever  fall 

From  hand,  or  heart,  or  lips! 

73 


THANKSGIVING 

1875 
GIVE  THANKS  ! 

IVE  thanks,  give  thanks,  my  country! 

For  God  hath  given  thee  peace — 
From  sword  and  plague  His  shield  hath  saved, 
And  made  thy  power  increase. 

Rejoice,  old  men  and  matrons, 

In  comfort  of  His  truth! 
Young  men  give  praise,  with  maidens  fair, 

For  all  the  joys  of  youth. 

Sing  gladsome  songs,  O  children, 

Born  in  this  land  and  age! 
Grow  Heavenward  with  a  noble  aim! 

In  noble  strife  engage! 

Give  thanks,  ye  favored  people, 
For  life  with  broadened  scope! — 

For  worldly  thrift,  for  holy  ties, 
For  mightier  nerve  and  hope. 

To-day  with  grateful  anthems 

Let  all  our  borders  ring, 
To  God,  our  Father  and  our  Friend! 

To  God  our  only  King! 

74 


"PEACE" 

Us  HAVE  PEACE  !  "  (Letter  of  Acceptance) 
1868 

FOR  Peace  do  we  pray — aye,  we  labor — 
For  peace  between  neighbor  and  neighbor. 
Away  with  fell  Hate,  the  destroyer, 
Call  Love  back  to  life  and  enjoy  her! 
75 


76  "PEACE" 

Like  Jesus  to  snatch  from  the  charnel 
The  victim  of  spirits  infernal; — 
From  her  grave-clothes  sweet  Love  to  deliver, 
The  garment  of  gladness  to  give  her: — 

O,  beautiful  task !  the  divinest, 
Great  Father,  thou  ever  assignest! 
O,  miraculous  power!  achieving 
The  master-piece  of  the  believing! 

When  the  land  was  o'erswept  by  the  demon 
Of  grief  and  destruction ;  when  seamen 
And  landsmen  left  labor  and  barter 
To  change  to  the  hero  and  martyr; — 

Then  the  hum  of  the  wheel  and  the  reaper 
Was  hushed  at  the  wail  of  the  weeper — 
At  the  cannon's  dread  boom — and  the  whistle 
Of  the  swift  and  unmerciful  missile. 

Thank  God  that  to  prayer  He  has  harkened ! 
Though  the  storm-clouds  of  conflict  have  darkened, 
The  stars  on  our  flag  have  relighted 
A  nation  redeemed  and  united. 


"PEACE"  77 

Lo!  the  channels  of  commerce  yet  cumbered, 
And  the  wrecks  of  high  promise  unnumbered! 
Still  Calumny's  spear  is  not  broken, 
And   Jealousy's  lies  are  yet  spoken. 

The  horizon  no  longer  is  darkling, 
But  glows  with  a  banner,  all  sparkling 
With  hope;  and  our  moral  Aurora 
Shows  beauties  diviner  than  Flora. 

Aye!  let  us  have  peace  ;  and  confessing 
Our  lack  of  deserving  the  blessing, 
We  '11  thank  the  Great  Giver  who  sends  it, 
And  honor  the  man  who  defends  it. 


NOW 

LIVE  in  the  present;  for  't  is  all  thou  hast  ; 
And  covet  not  the  treasure  thou  hast  spent. 
Use  every  moment  as  it  were  thy  last! 

What  though  the  future  shall  be  opulent 
With  golden  privilege  and  sparkling  joy! 

Thou  canst  not  know  thou  shalt  inherit  these; 
A  fateful  breath  may  all  thy  hopes  destroy ; 
Seize  thou  thine  instant  opportunities! 
78 


NOW  79 

Live  in  the  present !     Give  not  one  regret 

To  what  thou  couldst  not  if  thou  wouldst  recall, 
Nor  seek  to  span  the  gulf  before  thee  set, 

With  bridge  of  futile  fancy,  soon  to  fall ! 
Across  the  chasm  a  highway  shall  be  thrown, 

For  thee  to  tread  in  honor  and  in  peace — 
Bearing  thy  burden,  cheerful,  though  alone, 

Nor  vainly  longing  for  a  quick  release. 

Live  in  the  present!     Every  day  express 

The  oil  of  gladness  sweet  experience  holds — 
The  oil  of  patience,  faith,  and  holiness; 

These  each  pure  moment  like  a  flower  enfolds. 
With  these  anointed,  shall  thy  soul  give  forth, 

A  perfume  grateful  as  the  spikenard,  poured 
By  the  poor  woman,  kneeling  on  the  earth, 

Upon  the  sacred  feet  of  Christ,  the  Lord. 


"  THE  MAN  WITH  THE  HOE  " 


WHO  least  requires  the  pity  of  his  kind — 
Who  least  desires  your  condescending  aid  ? 
He  who  with  plow  and  hoe  has  conquered  Earth, 
Piled  high  her  treasures,  gathered  by  his  toil, 
Then  sent  them  far  to  fill  his  fellowmen 
With  cheer  and  strength  in  every  walk  of  life. 

Perchance  his  soul  has  grovelled,  as  has  yours; — 
Losing  for  long  that  intercourse  sublime 
Which  even  humble  minds  may  have  with  Heaven; 
Forgetting,  in  less  worthy  things  absorbed, 
The  themes  most  fit  to  stir  his  deepest  life. 
Whose  soul  can  soar  forever  with  the  lark 
Piercing  the  blue  and  pouring  forth  her  notes 
In  tireless  ardor  toward  the  smiling  sun  ? 

Two-fold  our  nature  is — earthy  of  earth 
And  holding  kinship  with  the  angels  too. 
Who  loiters  or  who  labors  in  the  mart, 

Si 


82  "THE  MAK  WITH  THE  HOE" 

The  factory,  the  farm,  or  else,  whereaye 
The  foot  of  man  may  wander,  may  forego 
His  sonship's  privilege  and  dwell  with  swine 
Far  from  the  portals  of  his  Father's  house. 

Least  apt  are  they  to  be  imbruted  souls 
Whose  lives,  here  spent  beneath  the  azure  arch, 
Shun  competition's  strife  and  tricky  trade. 
Peace  is  this  Temple  of  the  open  sky, 
Trust  is  its  roof-tree,  Freedom  is  its  thought, 
And  Purity  its  atmosphere  benign ; — 
Its  cult  the  Sweet  Paternity  of  God. 
Here  Nature  blends  her  tuneful  harmonies, 
And,  whilst  one  prays,  the  Spirit-Dove  descends. 

The  sturdiest,  strongest,  bravest  men  are  they 

Who  gather  nourishment  and  fortitude 

And  lofty  purpose  from  God's  great  Out-doors; — 

The  while,  through  straight,  brown  billows  of  the  soil 

They  drive  the  plow  ;  or,  when  the  sun  and  rains, 

Divinely  sent,  faithful  and  diligent, 

Have  ripened  well  the  wisely  planted  seed. 

Garner  in  Autumn  all  the  gladdening  gold. 

Least  apt  are  these — the  children  of  the  soil — 

To  suffer  long  a  needless  tyranny. 


"  THE   MAN  WITH  THE  HOE  "  83 

And  if  they  cling  to  honored  customs  loved, 
And  homes  in  which  their  fathers  lived  and  died, 
Shall  any  dare  defame  them  for  their  choice, 
Or  foist  on  them  a  pity  they  would  scorn  ? 

Ye  who  would  fain  behold  our  world  transformed, 
Either  by  fierce  upheavals  or  by  dreams, 
Commiseration  for  the  worker  spare! 
'T  is  he  who  labors  patiently  and  well 
At  humbler  or  at  higher  tasks,  or  both, 
Whose  slow  accumulations  bless  mankind 
With  stepping-stones  of  means  for  progress  sure 
And  themes  for  poet's  or  for  angel's  song. 

There  is  no  scale  that  weighs  the  wage  for  work — 

Though  worlds  are  weighed  that  sail  the  universe. 

The  tireless  journeys  of  celestial  spheres, 

Eclipses,  movements,  balances,  returns  ; — 

The  dizzy  whirl,  in  great  cotillions  swift, 

Of  suns  and  satellites  athwart  the  sky — 

All  these  are  measured  by  the  master  mind, 

With  times  and  compensations  furnished  forth: 

Not  so  the  measurements  of  groping  men 

Of  what  is  meet  as  labor's  just  return. 

And,  though  man's  mind  may  weigh  the  heavenly  orbs, 


84  "  THE  MAN  WITH  THE  HOE  " 

And  e'en  predict  the  straying  comet's  course, 

He  cannot,  if  he  would,  declare  the  meed, 

Exact  and  just,  for  service,  here  or  there. 

And  so  he  bargains,  barters,  or  controls, 

And  gains  the  best  result  at  cheapest  hire. 

Supply,  demand,  with  ignorance,  and  chance, 

Are  factors  in  the  fluctuating  wage. 

Conventions  come; — rates,  grades,  and  sliding  scales- 

They  cut  the  tangles,  but  they  fail  to  mark 

True  lines  of  value  for  the  worker's  day; 

And  every  worker's  value  varies,  too; 

The  standards  shift  as  do  the  drifting  sands — 

The  hourly  sport  of  fickle  Ocean's  waves. 

Alas  the  reeling  reckoning  of  man 

On  things  that  touch  his  duty  and  the  right! 

For  truth  the  sage  and  priest  make  futile  quest; 

The  good  physician  guesses  remedies; 

The  judge  but  gropes  and  staggers  at  the  law; 

The  daft  reformer  tilts  at  windmills  still; 

And,  with  distorted  eye,  the  Christian  reads 

The  very  text  that  points  the  way  to  life. 

If  thus  we  live  as  in  the  dawn  of  truth — 
The  night  still  struggling  for  the  mastery — 


"THE  MAN  WITH  THE  HOE"  85 

Shall  workers  then  denounce  the  elements  ? — 
Or,  as  by  fierce  delirium  beset, 
Strike  blindly  out,  heeding  and  recking  not 
What  blows  thus  given  may  shatter  and  destroy 
So  that,  like  Samson,  desperate  and  blind, 
They  might  but  wreak  revenge  in  Ruin's  crash  ? 

Shall  we  be  blameless  if  we  warm  and  nurse 

The  serpent  Anarchy  to  work  our  woe  ? 

Nay,  rather,  turn  we  to  the  fairer  side 

Of  mysteries  which  Faith  must  find  yet  dim. 

For,  who  can  doubt  that  even  ill-got  gains, 

(Damning  the  getter  to  the  lowest  depths) 

By  Providence  transmuted,  serve  His  plans  ? 

The  greedy  grasp  but  for  a  moment  holds; 

The  world  of  life  inherits  every  hour 

Houses  and  lands,  parks,  monuments,  and  roads, 

Inventions,  schemes,  and  purposes  of  power, 

Which  dead  hands  can  but  drop  and  leave  behind. 

And  if  the  stout-armed  toiler  proved  a  man 

In  larger  sense,  and  moved  by  larger  heart — 

If,  as  he  seized  the  elements  of  strength 

Whilst  still  in  plenitude  of  worthy  will, 

He  gave  back  freely  to  his  weaker  kin 

The  well-earned  product  of  his  toil  and  thought — 


86 


"THE   MA\  If/77/  THE  HOE" 


Then  twice  blessed  he  who  could  both  win  and  give 
The  wealth  that  else  might  not  have  learned  to  bless. 

Patience  shall  conquer  all — not  fierce  recoil ! 
When  man  shall  reach  the  top-most  peaks  of  joy, 
And  in  serenest  mind  look  back  on  life, 
Shall  dread  Destruction  or  Impatience  stand 
The  Almoner,  of  grace  and  goodly  gifts  ? 
Nay,  rather,  shall  a  stately,  Christly  form 
Emerge  upon  the  path  so  bravely  trod, 
And,  with  a  voice  of  gracious  dignity, 
Proclaim — I,  Labor,  am  the  Friend  of  Man, 
His  Teacher,  Guard,  Companion  to  the  end: 
By  me  his  great  achievements  all  are  won, 
By  me  his  feet  have  gained  supernal  heights. 


EASTER 


HE  is  risen!     Hail  His  presence !- 
Broken  seal  and  empty  grave !- 
These  declare  the  King  triumphant, 
Strong  to  conquer  and  to  save. 
Nunc  Surrexit! 
Vere,  Vere! 
Joyous  be  our  hearts  and  brave! 

2 
Better  feast  than  of  Eostra, 

Goddess  of  the  rising  sun, 
Or  the  grander  old  Passover — 
This  that  tells  of  victory  won ! 
Nunc  Surrexit! 
Vere,  Vere! 
Shout  for  what  our  Lord  has  done! 


87 


Lo,  the  Pascal  Lamb  who  suffered! 

Now  the  Prince  whom  empires  bless! 
Led  the  Star  above  the  manger 
To  the  Sun  of  Righteousness! 
Nunc  Surrexit! 
Vere,  Vere! 
Let  the  Earth  her  Lord  confess! 


Bring  the  flowers  that  tell  of  Springtime! 

Garlands  to  the  altars  bring! 
May  the  joyful  choirs  of  Heaven 
With  the  Earth  responsive  sing! 
Nunc  Surrexit! 
Vere,  Vere! 
Christ  is  risen!     Christ  is  King! 


88 


EPITAPH 

FOR  A  MOTHER  IN  ISRAEL  WHO  DIED  AT  EIGHTY 

Twice  forty  days  the  ark  of  life  was  borne 
In  safety  o'er  the  death-encompassed  flood: 

The  dove-like  soul  now  hails  the  promised  morn 
And  flies  to  rest  upon  the  Mount  of  God. 


89 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 

A  A      000120508 


